LAUSD Orders Charter School To Scrap Its Attendance Policy

It was one of those heartbreaking decisions teachers can barely
stand to make, yet Mary Redclay felt bound by a moral obligation to
make it.

Her student had performed exceptionally well in the educator's 12th
grade English class—earning all A's in fact—but Ms. Redclay
felt compelled to fail the young woman because of excessive absences
and tardiness, as warranted by what she believes the school's
4-year-old attendance policy to be.

"The girl is wonderful, but she missed 10 days and was tardy 13
times out of 41 days," said Ms. Redclay, who teaches English at the
2,400-student Palisades Charter High School, a math, science, and
technology charter-magnet school located in Pacific Palisades, Calif.
Ms. Redclay was one of 40 teachers who recorded 130 F's in their grade
books last month in just such a gesture.

Now, the administrators who oversee the charter operation within the
737,000-student Los Angeles Unified School District say the marks may
have to be voided because the board of education did not approve the
attendance policy.

Not only has the decision rankled the teachers, who argue that their
charter school is exempt from such governance, but it also has sparked
a heated conversation about standards, accountability, teachers'
rights, and the influence of politically powerful parents.

"We will not bend from our position in support of the attendance
policy," said Ms. Redclay, who also serves as a co-chairwoman of the
Palisades faculty senate. "Students and parents—as well as
teachers and administrators—must be held accountable. We intend
to meet the district in court if necessary."

Approval Not Sought

The Palisades Charter High School is a jewel within the LAUSD. The
school campus, which draws 2,400 students from around the city,
includes sweeping views of both the ocean and the mountains.

For that very reason, the faculty devised a strict attendance
policy, Ms. Redclay said. Any student who misses more than six days of
class per semester without a valid excuse will be flunked without
consideration of his or her academic achievements, she said. Tardiness
is also factored in: Three such incidents equal one absence. Illness
and extenuating circumstances are considered, and an appeals process is
in place, she said.

"It is spring in California," Ms. Redclay said. "Without the policy,
we won't see the seniors again."

But district administrators who oversee the charter school say
officials never submitted the attendance policy for school board
action, thus making it nonbinding. In such cases, they maintain, the
school must rely on the policies of the Los Angeles school
district.

"That policy follows our state code," said Carol J. Dodd, the LAUSD
official who is in charge of overseeing the charter school. "Attendance
is not to be used as a reason to fail students. They are to be graded
on the work they do."

State officials said last week they were unable to shed much light
on the issue, largely because governance and jurisdiction differ in
nearly every arrangement between charter schools and their sponsoring
districts. California's charter law was written to free such schools
from many of the regulations and laws in place in traditional schools,
and those rules are set at the local level, said Eileen Cubanski, who
oversees charter schools for the state education department.

Under the state education code, districts may authorize teachers to
fail students based on their attendance record in regular public
schools, but that regulation does not apply to charter schools, added
Kim Clement, a fiscal consultant to the district.

Ms. Redclay, however, said that district administrators had the
attendance policy in their possession when Palisades Charter High was
approved. The charter school status, she contended, gives faculty
members the flexibility to set their own rules, regardless.

Teachers have been encouraged to change the failing grades, but
won't be required to do so, Ms. Dodd said. Nor will educators be
disciplined, she said.

Such punishment was insinuated in a March 5 memo written by
Principal Linda Hosford and distributed to faculty members. Ms. Hosford
did not elaborate on punishments in the letter and could not be reached
for comment.

Truancy on Rise?

The district will soon begin an appeals process for those students
who argue that the grades they received were unfair, Ms. Dodd said.

"At that time, it will be up to the board of education to change the
grades if teachers refuse to do so," she said.

But the students who failed have already been through the appeals
process once, according to Ms. Redclay. The district is simply bending
to the will of a few politically connected parents who want to ensure
that their children pass, she said.

"I sat in on those [meetings]," Ms. Redclay said. "I was not about
to grant an appeal to someone who can't get up in the morning."

Instead of serving as a lesson about accountability for students,
the episode has evolved into a course on locating loopholes, Ms.
Redclay charged. Truancy at the high school is increasing, she added,
as students get word of the flap over the disputed policy.

Merle Price, the deputy superintendent for instruction for the LAUSD
and a former principal at Palisades High, said that the charter
school's policy "helps [students] focus on the fact that they can't
take a casual attitude."

Unfortunately, he said, that lesson cannot be applied in this
instance.

State lawmakers are attempting to clarify the issue of governance
and jurisdiction in charter schools during this legislative session
because it has been so problematic, said Gerry Shelton, the
administrator of the fiscal-policy office for the education department.
"A lot of issues surrounding charter schools have some ambiguity," he
said, noting that many situations "can be interpreted a couple of
different ways."

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